“Tailor-made” medicine

The use of bioinformatics in health care grows exponentially. Based on human genome sequencing and body composition, custom medicines and treatments are developed and prescribed to patients. This helps treat dreaded illnesses such as cancer and genetic disorders—where failure rates of medicines are historically high. Government closely oversees research, testing and therapeutics, regulates accuracy and affordability, and plays a centralized role in determining best practices for treatment plans.

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For a few hundred dollars and a tube of spit, genetic profiling start-up 23andMe looks at a million genetic variants in customers’ DNA to trace their ancestry and predict risks of certain diseases. While 23andMe’s testing kit is currently in the process of getting FDA approval, direct-to-consumer genetic tests could become common in the near future.